Danny's choice
by Teirs03
Summary: Post-PP. Danny is taken by Clockwork and given some bad news. Now, he must make the greatest choice of his life. But what do you choose between your humanity, or the power to protect the people you love?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Danny Phantom. The show and characters belong to Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon. I just own this story.

This is a post-PP story with minor ending spoilers. This is the end of the emergency spoiler warning system.

**Chapter 1: Choices**

Tick Tock Tick Tock.

The clocks' in the castle continued to tick away, showing that time was still flowing within the lair of a certain ghost. Said ghost didn't seem to pay any mind though, his red eyes focused on the portal in front of him. Clockwork obviously didn't like what it was showing him, apparent by the frown adorning his aged blue face.

"This cannot happen."

Clockwork floated over to his time staff, which was more like a pole attached to a large stop-clock, and picked it up. His ghostly body shifted through time, changing from a wrinkled old man into a small child in the blink of an eye, before he opened a hole to travel to the mortal world.

- (Amity Park) -

It was night in the town of Amity Park. It was so peaceful that a pin falling across the room could be heard. However, Amity Park's nights weren't always so quiet. Some nights, there were dangerous creatures out in the streets.

"BEWARE"

Tonight was obviously not one of those nights.

Flying through the sky, a pale man wearing factory mandate uniform screamed out warnings from the top of his lungs. His flight was cut short though, when a green burst of energy hit him in the back. The source of the green energy came from a young, white haired boy wearing a black jump suit. This boy was the Earth's greatest, and Amity Parks resident, hero.

Daniel Fenton, a.k.a. Danny Phantom.

As the man fell to the ground, Danny pulled out a small thermos that looked as though it had more wires than a fuse box. He uncapped it before turning the opening of the thermos towards the falling ghost, sucking the being up in one shot.

"And there goes the Box Ghost. Again." He said, sounding a bit exhausted.

Danny floated to the ground, landing with ease. As soon as he landed, a boy and girl riding mopeds drove up to him, stopping as they got close. As soon as they came to a stop, they both approached him. The first to reach him was the dark skinned boy wearing a yellow shirt, light green khakis, and a top hat.

"You'd really think he would have learned not to come through the Fenton Portal by now. He's never out in the open for long before we get him." The boy said, taking the thermos from his friend. The boy was Tucker Foley, computer genius and youngest mayor, both to serve and be re-elected, in the United States. Before that, however, he was Danny's oldest friend.

"Well what do you expect? He is the Box Ghost. And will you take off that hat already?" The girl remarked; sounding a bit annoyed at the end. The girl was Sam Manson, inherent rich girl and eco-Goth. She was dressed in either black or purple, the only change of which was the green lines in her black skirt.

"Yeah, Tuck, it's been months since you were re-elected and you've only taken off that hat for school. Would you give it a rest already?"

"You're just jealous that I got elected again," Tucker replied before sticking his tongue out childishly at his friends.

As the argument began, Danny smiled as he remembered, once again, the incident from 2 years ago. Within a matter of days, Danny turned from Amity Parks' resident enemy/hero into the worlds' savior. He also turned from Sam's friend into her boyfriend.

After the Disasteroid passed, Danny's life started to get a bit easier. With the secret of his ghost powers out, it was a lot easier to change and fight ghosts. Though with the change, a few others changed as well.

"Freeze Daniel Fenton." Like that for instance.

In an instant, two men in white coats jumped out from an alley, aiming their weapons at Danny.

"First the Box Ghost, and now these guys? Tonight is just not my night," Danny sighed to himself. He turned to his friends, "I'll see you guys in the morning." Finishing his goodbye by kissing Sam, he took the thermos back from Tucker and flew off, dodging the energy rounds being shot at him by the men.

Danny knew that flying would give them the slip. They couldn't risk being spotted chasing after the Earth's hero, no matter how much they didn't like ghosts. It's why Danny was only careful at night and in dark alleys.

As Danny flew home, he spotted something unusual. A small bird was stopped, floating in mid-air.

"Well there's something you don't see every day."

Danny looked closer, seeing that it wasn't moving a single muscle. The bird obviously wasn't a ghost, yet it was frozen in the air. Only one thing he knew could do this. Clockwork.

"Danny." A deep voice spoke behind him. Before he could turn around, he was thrown into a recently opened portal.

Danny traveled through the portal, knowing it would probably lead to Clockworks' castle. Soon, the space in front of him took shape, and dropped him into a room he previously knew. Around him were castle walls, covered in clocks, except for one wall which showed a mirror larger than he was.

Danny stood and dusted himself off before turning to look at the ghost that had dragged him into this place. The time ghost floated in front of Danny, looking like an adult, just one of the three forms the ghost boy knew. No matter what form he was, however, the Older ghost always had a scar over one of his eyes. Danny was always curious as to how he got it, but knew better than to pry into the much more powerful ghosts' past.

Knowing Clockwork wasn't a ghost of whim, Danny knew what question to ask right away."What's happened, Clockwork? Why did you just rip me from my world?"

Clockworks face was serious. There looked to be no emotion in his eyes, though Danny knew that he was merely hiding them. His job being what it was, the time ghost had to hide it. It wasn't easy to play the puppet master when the puppets knew what he wanted.

Clockwork gazed up at the mirror before letting out a sigh and looking at Danny again. The older ghost paused for a moment, changing into an old man while he waited, trying to think of the best way to break the news. Finding no other way, he spoke gravely. "Daniel, you are going to die."

* * *

**A/N (9/18/11):** Newly edited and made better, I'm getting back into things. I'm going to try to edit the other chapters up a bit before making any new ones, so hold on tight, all you readers.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** If you own Danny Phantom, raise your hand. Note: If anybody other than Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon raised their hands, you are obviously lying.

**Chapter 2: Revelations**

"Daniel, you are going to die."

Clockwork stopped for a moment, waiting for Danny to react. Danny merely looked at Clockwork as if he had grown a second head, which would probably be more surprising and odd if Danny himself hadn't done so multiple times. Clockwork was surprised, to say the least, and it showed.

"Uh, Clockwork, in case you haven't noticed, I'm already dead. Well, half-dead, at least."

"Indeed," Clockwork replied, the expression draining from his face again, "But this isn't the type of death I'm talking about."

"Huh?" Danny was confused now. If Clockwork wasn't talking about being a ghost, than what was he talking about?

Clockwork sighed, preparing to give Danny his explanation. "Danny, you are one of two people with a special condition. Being a half-ghost, your body takes on your souls powers. This is an amazing thing, but also incredibly dangerous. These powers have been decaying you, eating away at your body and soul. Luckily the process has been slow, most likely because you have been growing. However, the decay has started to act faster lately."

"What? Why is it speeding up?"

"That, I cannot say at the moment. What I can say, however, is that you have about a month left to live before your body and soul have destroyed each other." Clockwork said with a slight frown.

Danny stood in shock. His mind couldn't think to do much else at the moment. Then again, what would any person do after being told they were going to die in a month by someone who could see through all of time?

"However," The elder ghost continued while shifting from his oldest form to his child form, "there does seem to be a way to stop this."

"What is it?" The ghost boy asked, skepticism sounding through his voice. At the same time, however his eyes were filled with panic.

Clockworks frown kept on his face as he changed from being a child into a grown man. "There are actually two ways for it to stop, though I am not sure how much you would like either. It is your choice to make though."

Clockwork paused for a moment, deciding which of the choices he would tell the younger ghost first. He looked Danny straight in the eye before finally talking, "The first is to leave the human world, become a full ghost."

Danny raised an eyebrow at the choice. He had seen the consequences of becoming a full ghost himself. It was only thanks to Clockwork himself that he was able to prevent that horrible future from coming true. "And what is the other way?"

"To give up your powers once more and never become Danny Phantom ever again." Danny didn't like that choice. The last time he gave up his powers, he came close to losing his friends and almost lost the entire planet, thanks to his greatest enemy, Vlad Plasmius.

He thought carefully about the first choice again. Becoming a ghost? That would mean having to leave his family, leaving his friends. There was also the fact that almost all of his greatest enemies were in the ghost zone.

Sure, he could stay in the real world. His parents would protect him from anybody trying to capture him. After learning he was part ghost, they were less about testing on ghosts, and more on sending them back to the ghost zone. Sure, they took some ecto-samples, and had him test his powers for them a bit, but he wouldn't expect anything else from them. Their son was something they were looking for since college. It would be strange if they didn't try to learn about what he could do and what he was made of.

But what if he changed when he became a full ghost like his future self he'd seen? Well, he wouldn't be quite that bad. That was after combining with Vlad's ghost half. There's no chance he could be that bad. But there was still the possibility that he could change. If he did, would he attack his family?

But would he be able to give his powers up? Back when Vlad made those "Masters' Blasters" he felt powerless. Sure, at the beginning it was fine. He finally got to have time with his friends, without being interrupted by something, like the Box-Ghost going on a rampage downtown, getting in the way. Closer to the end, however, he started to feel powerless, too weak to even help his own family. That wasn't a feeling that he liked.

After watching Danny struggle against himself for a few minutes, Clockwork decided to speak up. "Don't worry, Danny. You still have quite a bit of time to think about this decision, and you will have a lot of free time to put your thoughts in order."

Snapping out of his thoughts, Danny looked at Clockwork suspiciously again. "Why would I have the time to think about it?"

"Because you will have to stay in the ghost zone for quite a while. Hopefully the decay will slow down if you stay in the void for a while. I've arranged for a guide to keep you company during your stay. They should help in clearing up your choice a bit."

Danny's eyes opened wide at that. "WHAT? But what about my family? My friends? They'll wonder where I am. And what about school? Mr. Lancer will kill me if I miss full days of school."

Clockwork smiled for the first time since he brought Danny to his castle. "Do not worry, Daniel. Your friends will know where you are. I left a little present to tell them what happened." Clockwork chuckled a bit to himself, saying nothing more about it.

Danny couldn't help but wonder what he meant by that, but didn't risk asking what he did. There are some things that you just don't need to know when it comes to the time ghost. His plans tended to be full of things that weren't meant to be known by most people. Guess that's what happens when you know what happens through all of time.

Giving up, Danny asked,"Who did you get to guide me around the ghost zone? Frostbite? Wulf? The Wisconsin cheese king?"

"Sadly no. Frostbite has his duty of watching over the infi-map, Wulf is still running from Walker, and the cheese kings ghost is stuck in Wisconsin. No, I asked an old friend of yours to help protect you in the ghost zone. I had to ask another to help in clearing things up though."

"Who did you ask?" Danny was starting to get a bit impatient with Clockwork.

"Settle down, Daniel. You shall be meeting them just about now."

As Clockwork finished his sentence, a high pitched bark rang through the ghost's castle. Before Danny could turn around to see what it was, he was pounced on from behind. When he rolled around, he came face to face with a ghost he was very familiar with. It was hard not to remember with all the licking the small ghost dog was doing.

"Cujo, down boy. Stop." The ghost boy tried to get the ghost dog off of him, laughing a bit. The enthusiastic ghost animal smiled and barked in his arms. The ghost boy was happy to find a friendly face was going to help him around.

"You better be telling the truth when you say it'll be worth it to help out the ghost boy, Clockwork."

Danny's eyes bulged a bit at hearing the feminine voice. Despite knowing a few ghost girls, he could tell by the tone of voice who it was. He looked and saw one of the people he didn't want to think was coming. Standing there in the room was the flame haired ghost rocker.

Ember McLain.

* * *

**A/N**: Second chapter for you guys. Before anybody says anything, I am a DannyxEmber fan, but this is not one of those stories. Well, maybe a little one-sided from Ember at the end, but I'm not sure of that yet. Right now, it's one of those little we'll see ideas in development. Anyways, Danny has his choice to make, and no idea which to really choose. What will happen next? Who knows? Oh, that would be me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not, shall not, and cannot own Danny Phantom. It is the creative property of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon.

**Chapter 3: Realization**

It was a good day, in Sam Manson's opinion. There was a slaughter-house protest, capturing the box ghost, a date with Danny, followed by capturing the box ghost, than hanging with Danny and Tucker, and finally capturing the box ghost. When would that ghost get the idea to stop coming through to the human world? At least it's fun to suck him into the thermos.

After splitting up from Tucker and Danny, Sam headed back to her house. As much as she wanted to get away from her parents and their cheery dispositions, she wanted to stay with Danny more. Even if it meant having to stay with her parents' addiction to all things yellow and happy.

Happily, though, her room was safe from her parents influence. Her grandma seemed to make sure of that. She kept the walls a dark purple, pretty much the exact opposite of what her parents seemed to like. Her bed had a spider-web panel designs. Her desk sat in the corner of the room, black like many of her things. What was on her desk, however, was something new.

Sam walked up to the desk and picked up the out-of-place item, a necklace with a cog shaped medallion at the end, knowing what it was just by looking at it. She also knew what it meant. She held the time medallion close to her before placing it back on the desk. "Danny, what trouble are you getting in now?" Sam thought before picking up the phone to call Danny's parents.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton?"

- (Clockworks Castle) -

"No, no, no, no, no! I'm not sure if you remember, Clockwork, but Ember is one of my enemies."

Danny had gotten back onto his feet, with a lot of resistance from Cujo on the idea however. He faced Clockwork with a disbelieving look after finding out whom one of his two guides were. Clockwork predicted this, though, speaking calmly to Danny.

"Come now, Daniel, you have my word that you will be alright. Despite troubles in the past, Ember is one of the ghosts with less of a grudge against you."

"Really?" Danny replied, surprised at hearing this. He turned to look at Ember before asking, "After stopping your plans on taking over the world twice?"

Ember shrugged at the question as she replied, "Hey, it's no big. Losing a crowd can happen when you're a rocker. Besides, I wouldn't miss leading you around the ghost zone for a bit. It'll definitely make my ex jealous enough." Ember grinned smugly at the last part.

"You have a boyfriend?" Danny asked his eyes widening. First Aragon tried to kidnap Sam to marry her, then Skulker had a girlfriend, and now Ember had a boyfriend? Was every ghost trying to hook up with someone nowadays?

"**Had** a boyfriend," She grunted out angrily. "I broke up with him way back when me and some of the girls went to town and got rid of all the boys in Amity Park." Ember looked away, a frown plain on her face.

"You did what with the who now?"

Ember waved off the confused question before continuing. "Never mind. Anyways, don't worry about me attacking you, dipstick. I doubt your little ghost mutt would let me anyways." She looked over at Cujo, who seemed to be occupying himself at the moment by sniffing under the newly old Clockworks tunic. The ghost dog then turned after noticing Ember staring at him and barked.

Danny shook his head at Cujo's display. The small side to the ghost dog just didn't seem to have a threatening side to him. The tiny green dog held a happy expression on its face, its tongue hanging out of its mouth. If he hadn't already seen it, he would never believe the creature could cause as much damage as he did when Danny first found the dog.

When he looked at Clockwork, Danny's expression became serious again. "Thank you, Clockwork. I'll come back when I've made my choice."

Clockwork nodded before changing from an old man to a young adult again. "I know you will choose what's right for you." The older ghost smiled warmly at the boy before turning and going back to work watching the time-stream.

With those words, Danny and Ember walked to the exit of Clockworks castle followed a bit lately by Cujo. At the edge to the castle, the small dog transformed, turning from a small dog lower than Danny's knee, into a hulking giant of a dog. Cujo then jumped from the edge and floated into the ghost zone, hardly waiting for Danny or Ember to follow.

As soon as the boy was gone, Clockwork looked into the future, hoping to see the changes he made were good. What he saw in it, however, was a sea of grey. A look of sadness replaced the warm smile he had before as he watched his portal. It was a very rare thing for him to not be able to see what would happen.

"I hope this will work."

* * *

**A/N:** Here you guys go. Third chapter, with double the cliffhanger taste. I'm just good at makin 'em. Clockwork's plan is in motion, but will it work? Yes, no, maybe so. Updates may take a bit longer than before due to work. Working weekend nights can help, yet hurt, my writing. I get a lot of time to think, but not a lot to write.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Danny Phantom = Not mine. Plain and simple.

**Chapter 4: Surprises and Rest**

- (Amity Park) –

At the corner of a fairly normal neighborhood in Amity Park, there stands a strongly abnormal building known as Fenton Works. With large amounts of wires and technology sticking out of it, involving a fully functional Operations Center on the roof, it's no surprise that scientists live inside. What has surprised most people, however, is what they study. The Fenton duo was devoted fully to the study of ghosts.

Jasmine Fenton, otherwise known as Jazz, always wondered about her parents' mental stability when she was at home. Whether it was her father's complete obsession with ghosts, or her mother's willingness to follow his obsession, she had thought that there was at least something wrong with them. She had to question as to how they even managed to make a living only making ghost hunting equipment. How did they even get money to raise her and Danny?

After she discovered Danny's secret those years back, however, she began to question her parents' sanity a lot less. Her concern for her parents shifted to Danny, though. Whenever her half-ghost brother changed, she had to worry about if her parents were going to rip him apart molecule by molecule. After her parents found out about him, though, she had a lot less to worry about, and she could go off to college close to in peace. She still worried about if he would be alright fighting ghosts.

Hearing her father screaming out his name downstairs wasn't helping her peace of mind.

Jazz ran downstairs wondering what kind of trouble Danny was in now. When she couldn't find her parents on the ground floor, she knew there was only one place that they could be.

She carefully walked down to her parents' lab. When your parents are scientists, and ghost hunters, you never know what could jump at you in their lab. Though, as she saw, they were doing something stranger than trying one of their inventions out.

They were packing weapons into the Specter Speeder.

Less paranoid about her safety, Jazz descended the stairs before asking her parents, "Uhh, mom? Dad? What are you doing?"

Her mother, Maddie Fenton, looked up at her, showing that she had her jumpsuits hood up and her goggles on. "No time to talk Hon. A ghost took Danny and we're going to get him back."

Her father, Jack Fenton, slammed the trunk of the Specter Speeder shut, barely giving enough time for Maddie to get her hands clear of the door. "And we're going to rip the ghost molecule by molecule," He near-shouted angrily.

As soon as he said it, Jack ran to the Specter Speeders driver's seat, waiting for his wife to get in before shooting off into the green swirling mass of their newer ghost portal. Jazz could only watch as her parents flew off, leaving her confused and alone in her own home.

- (Ghost Zone) -

After what seemed like a few hours of silence, Danny finally spoke up, asking a question that he's been wondering since they started flying through the swirling void that made the Ghost Zone.

"Um, where are we going?"

Both of the ghosts in front of him stopped and turned to look at him. It was probably a bad idea to speak up, because as soon as he looked, Cujo instantly jumped Danny and started licking him up and down. Ember could only sigh, slightly annoyed after thinking about the situation.

"We're probably gonna have to go to my place for the night."

Danny tried to get around Cujo, who continued to affectionately lick the ghost boy, to try to look at Ember. "You have a place? We have to go to your place?"

Ember glared at him. "Yeah I have a place. All ghosts who've been in the ghost zone for more than a few hours have at least a room to sleep in. What? You think that all we do is fly around in here and mess with each other? Hell, you'll probably have your own area tomorrow. But, right now, you don't have an area, and I doubt you'll want to sleep in that flea-bag's bed. So, follow me."

All Danny could do was nod. After a few minutes, an ecto-shield, and a bit of intangibility to get the dog slobber off of him, Danny and Cujo followed Ember through the Ghost Zone.

As they flew, Danny couldn't help but look around at the things they were passing by. He had been in the Ghost Zone before, but most of those times, he was too busy to look around at the scenery. As he had noticed the times that he could, the Ghost Zone could seem dead, but had its own charm to it. All of the different ghosts' domains flying by, with weaker ghosts flying to and from them had their own look to them.

That's when Danny thought of something. He had a ghost guide to tell him things now. He could learn all kinds of things about the Ghost Zone that he would normally never find out. He could probably learn some new things about his own powers while he is here. All he could think to do was ask something simple, however.

"So, who are all of the weaker ghosts supposed to be?"

Ember looked back at him for a second, as though he had just asked what the sun was. She looked forward again, making sure she wasn't going to run into anything while muttering under her breath about "Newbie's."

She cleared her throat before asking back to him, "Do you know where ghosts come from?"

"If you're asking if I had 'the talk' than-"

"Of course I'm not talking about that, you idiot." Ember turned and cut him off angrily, blushing a bit at what he was saying. "I'm talking about the beginning of being a ghost."

"Oh." Danny blushed as well, realizing the meaning behind what she was saying. "Isn't a ghost just someone who's died?"

Ember turned around and went back to flying as she talked to Danny. "Close, dipstick. Just because they've died doesn't mean that they're a ghost. A ghost is someone who's died and has gotten power from something in their life. Take Walker, for instance. He was strict with his rules when he was alive, and his rules give him power in his after-life."

Danny nodded. Rules did seem to be what was keeping Walker in the ghost zone. He continued to listen, trying to soak up all of the information that Ember was telling him.

"The weaker ghosts are just those who got less power from their lives than the stronger ones. They can also be like a sort of parasite for the stronger ones, too. In exchange for protection and a bit of the stronger ghost's power, they work for the ones they're getting the power from. Remember that the next time you're fighting Walker, because he has, like, 50 goons working for him."

Danny's eyes widened when he thought of how strong Walker had to be originally. Even with how much more powerful he had grown, Danny still had a hard time when he was fighting Walker. "Yeah, I'll remember that."

"Good, we're about there."

Danny looked up to see a door floating in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't an unusual sight, at least not in the ghost zone, but it was interesting. Beyond this door, painted with blue flames, was the domain of one of his enemies. The only enemy's home that he had seen before was Skulkers, and it fit him perfectly. He had to wonder what Embers' would be like.

"Well, dipstick, welcome to my place."

Ember opened the door to reveal a large room. No, that wasn't right; it was more like studio apartment than a room. Stepping inside, Danny could see the walls were covered in sheet music, not all of the papers being written with music. Covering the floor were scrunched up balls of paper, along with broken guitar picks littered here and there. It seemed so... normal!

"What are you so surprised about?"

He turned to look at Ember, a surprised look still on his face. "This is where you live?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So it's so… It's so-" Danny tried to think of a word that wouldn't insult his guide, but was cut off.

"What? Normal?" Ember responded in a huff. "As I already told you, I am a rocker and I was human once. It's only natural that I have a place like this to live in. Really, I'd be more concerned about what your domain is going to be."

Danny nodded before he looked around the room again. There were only two doors to the room, one of which was the exit, the other, he assumed, was the bedroom, but no beds or couches in the room. "Uh, could I ask, where am I going to sleep?"

Ember looked at him as if he were an idiot again, which to her wasn't that hard to do. "You're going to sleep in here."

Gesturing around, Danny had to ask, "Where exactly in here?"

"Give me a moment and I'll show you."

Ember walked up to one of the walls in the apartment. She grabbed what seemed to be a handle on the wall and pulled, pulling out a small couch. "I usually keep it hidden. Not a whole lot of friendly ghosts out there to really visit. You can sleep here for tonight. Just make sure the fuzz ball doesn't mess up any of my stuff."

Danny nodded as Ember walked into the second door. He looked at Cujo, who had turned back into a puppy long before they had gotten to Embers door. Cujo barked at the ghost boy, yawning soon afterwards, showing how tired the pup was.

"You and me both boy." Danny lay down on the couch, setting Cujo on top of him. After a few minutes of settling in, both Danny and Cujo fell asleep.

* * *

**A/N:** "When a mommy ghost and a daddy ghost love each other verrrrry much-" ANYWAYS. You want it, you got it. I never realized how much longer a longer chapter takes to do though, though writers block may have been part of that. Hopefully I didn't overload on the pointless drivel. But, hey, explanations are part of why I started this fic in the first place. We continue on.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Danny Phantom. Anybody who says I do is a big liar and isn't allowed to have any of my cookies.

**Chapter 5: Decisions.**

- (Ghost Zone) -

_It was a different night than usual in the Ghost Zone. Granted, a night in the Ghost Zone is different than anywhere, but something different was happening that night. Deep within the darkest corner of the ghost zone, in a decaying castle hidden by the darkness, a gathering of ghosts was taking place._

Deep within the castles crumbling walls, inside a large circular chamber, eight ghosts hid within the shadows, wondering why they were called. None of the ghosts could find the answer to their wonderings before the sound of a gavel banging captured their attention. All of the ghosts looked to the one making the sound, finding a large ghost hidden inside the shadows as well.

"Silence, all of you. Now that we are all here, I have called us together to take care of a dire matter, something that may change our entire world." The ghost bellowed out in a deep voice, making sure that all of the ghosts inside the chamber heard him.

"And what would be so important, Elam, as to wake up the entire Council of Ancients?" A smaller ghost with blazing red eyes showing had to ask in annoyance. Because of the other ghosts call his sleep had been interrupted. Many of the others had to agree with the question aimed at the ghost known as Elam.

Elam merely banged his gavel against one of the castles pillars, making an indent and effectively silencing the others. With the other ghosts silent, he continued speaking.

"As I said, it may change our entire world. The reason the council has been awoken is simple, yet complex-"

"Get on with it already." The smaller ghost from before interrupted, his patience wearing thin.

"The ghost zone is choosing a new king."

The ghosts gasped. A ghost to the smaller ones left spoke up first. "A new king? That's impossible! Pariah Dox is the only known ghost able to handle the powers of being the ghost zones king, and he is locked within the tomb of forever sleep. No other is able to handle the strain."

Elam opened his mouth to speak, but another spoke before him, stepping into the light. "Another is becoming."

He was a skinny ghost with a book in his hands. His long white hair was tied back, going halfway down his back before stopping. His clothes looked like he was a gentleman from the renaissance, as well as glasses making him look like a teacher.

"I believe I understand the reason we were called here. You wish to keep the one it chooses from becoming the king. As proven with Pariah, the powers of the king cannot be handled by any sane ghost. But as has been, the council must decide on what to do with him ourselves before he can be stopped."

The other ghosts nodded in agreement. It was the way the council has been since long ago, though very few of the ghosts were there to actually know of it. Most of the ghosts in the council were just given the position after the previous ancient had fallen.

"That is why I have called you all tonight. We shall vote upon his fate, and action shall be taken from there. His fate is in our hands, and my hand says destruction."

Focus shifted to the ghost that stepped forward, waiting for his answer. The ghost merely smirked before speaking. "Destruction."

Again the focus shifted to the smaller ghost who had been speaking before. The ghost looked around before speaking. "Salvation."

"Destruction."

"Salvation."

"Destruction."

"Salvation."

"Salvation."

Finally, all eight of the ghost's attentions were on the last one to vote. The ghost held its silence, making the other ghosts nervous. This one vote could determine whether a ghost would live or die. Finally, the ghost raised its head, showing its glowing green eyes, and spoke up. "Destruction."

At that, the renaissance ghost turned to Elam. "The vote is cast and the path is cleared. If it would please you all, I would like to be the first to try at this one. It interests me immensely."

The other ghosts muttered between each other before going silent again while looking to Elam. "It is unusual for an archivist to be interested in such a job. I am interested in what you will try." The eight ghosts agreed loudly, until Elam banged his gavel again. "Very well. You, Toren, shall be the first to try to find, and destroy, the next ghost king. Do not disappoint us." At that, the other ghosts began to vanish from the shadows of the castle.

The ghost known as Toren bowed before leaving, his smirk still present on his face. "It shall be my pleasure." The words echoed against the castles walls as the castle disappeared into the darkness.

Danny awoke suddenly, sitting up in surprise and knocking Cujo off of him with a yelp. He was drenched in cold sweat, having one of the tops on his strangest dreams list. He still has to say that the dream he had during the whole Nocturne incident was the strangest he's had.

He didn't have long to think about the dream before he was snapped out of his thoughts by an impact of pain against his cheek. Looking up he saw Ember standing above him, her right hand crossed to her left from slapping him and her left hand against her chest, as though holding her heart in. "Jeez, don't surprise me like that, dipstick. I come out to wake you up and you suddenly jump forward like that?"

"Oh, uh… sorry. I had a nightmare. Did you have to slap me though?" Danny asked, rubbing his now stinging cheek.

"Call it payback for scaring me like that. Now get ready or whatever. We're going out." Ember turned away from Danny, heading back to her bedroom, hand still on her heart, trying to settle herself down.

"Where are we going?"

Ember stopped at the door to her bedroom before looking back to reply, "We're gonna go see what your area is like." Not wanting to get caught up talking about something she found stupid again, she went into her room to get ready to leave.

Hearing that, Danny stood up, looking a bit confused. "What does she mean my area?" It was then that he remembered the situation he was in and where he was. It's funny what waking up in a human-like room after a nightmare could do to your memory.

When he thought back, the nightmare seemed so real, as if he was actually there. The castle seemed familiar as well, though he couldn't say from where he could know it. Whatever was happening, it was sure to be a big issue.

When Ember returned, she found Danny staring off into space with Cujo at his feet looking up at him. She held her hand up to her head, trying to calm the headache that was already starting to form before walking up to him. Grabbing her guitar, she turned the volume up on it and played a loud note on it, effectively knocking Danny back.

Shocked, Danny hit the ground hard after being shot back by one of Embers notes. Regaining his senses, he glared at her, Cujo following his glare and growling. "What was that for?"

"For standing around like an idiot. Now come on, we're going, and I mean NOW."

Danny huffed before returning to his feet and walking over to pick up Cujo, effectively stopping his growling. "How are we supposed to find my place anyways? The ghost zone is big, and it's not like my area would be right next door you know."

Ember turned to look at the ghost boy, a slight bit of agitation already present on her face. "There are plenty of ways we can find it. For one, you could try sensing it yourself, like most ghosts when they start out. Another way is using the infi-map, though that's a pretty dangerous thing to mess with. The last way I can think of is using that little mutt in your arms to sniff out the way. He could probably follow the trail to where your place is. Now are you coming or am I gonna have to hit you again?"

Danny thought for a second before exiting out the door that they had come in through the night before. "So how am I supposed to tell where it is myself?"

"What, did you need an explanation for all of your powers? Just close your eyes and go by instinct and you should find it."

Danny looked down at Cujo before shrugging and closing his eyes. He felt the ghost zone swirling around him, before starting to drift away thoughtlessly. Ember followed right behind him as he floated through the ghost zone, like a piece of paper being pushed by the wind.

Ember kept in mind the scenes that passed by, making sure to remember the path back to her door. In the ghost zone, if you didn't know your way home, it tended to end up bad for you. Either others would attack you or they would attack your home. Luckily in the last few years, the ghosts have had the human world to mess with instead of with each other's homes.

After a few minutes of floating, Danny began to feel strange, as though something was pulling on a chain connected to him. He slowly picked up speed, following the quickly shortening chain. When he felt the pull getting stronger, he opened his eyes to see he was about to run into a large wooden door. Danny stopped in an instant, causing Ember to run into him from the sudden stop.

"What's the big idea, numbskull? You should warn a person when you stop like that." She floated around to look Danny in the face. Noticing his blank look, she followed his stare to see the door standing in front of him.

It was a large door, intricately designed with only the colors black and white used. It looked old, much different than most of the doors in the ghost zone which looked like they were still brand new.

Breaking out of his trance, Danny looked down at Cujo, then at Ember, and nodded before reaching to grab the doors handle. When he opened the door, a flash of light blinded the three ghosts in front of it. When their vision cleared, they looked into the doorway, seeing something that Danny hadn't expected. Only one word appeared in his head as he looked into the room in front of him. "Whoa."

* * *

**A/N:** Hello valued readers. I'm not dead yet, just working through writers block on 5 different stories at the same time. Luckily, thanks to some motivation via cleaning and random inspiration, the writer's block is through. And, thanks to this lil cliffy here, I'll have the hardest part for me taken care of easily. The cliffy is also there to tell you that I am still an evil, evil lil man. Well, look forward to the next chapter, which, hopefully, will be longer.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I do not, will not, cannot, shall not, and have not ever owned the creative property known as Danny Phantom. This story is made without the permission of Danny Phantom's creators and I really hope no lawsuits will be coming my way.

**Chapter 6: Domain**

"Whoa."

Danny gaped at the room behind his door. The room was large, almost the span of a football field, with bookcases filling the room, leaving only enough room to walk between them.

Danny hesitantly stepped inside, followed by Ember and Cujo. Taking a better look around, he found that the room was bigger than it seemed looking in from the outside, mostly due to the ceiling being higher than he could see from outside. As far as he could see to the ceiling, bookcases were stacked on top of each other, filled with even more books.

_This looks more like a room Jazz would love than a place I would live._ Danny thought as he floated to a nearby bookcase to look over the books spines, looking for one he might recognize.

Only a minute passed before Ember was already bored, both of watching the ghost-boy float around the room, and of the room itself. She never was a fan of too many books; they were too combustible around her.

Sadly, though, she was supposed to be the half-ghost's guide, and leaving him to the ghost zone would probably be doing a bad job of that. _Damn Clockwork, making me watch this dipstick. This had better be worth it, like you said._

So, with little other choice, Ember sat on the floor, trying to make herself comfortable while Danny floated around the shelves nearby.

As Danny looked from book to book, he noticed something odd. Every book's title was made of two words. A person's name. Looking through the books, he pulled one from its place and opened it, curious as to what was inside. He turned to a random page, only to find that the page was empty of any words. He flipped the pages to the front of the book to read from the beginning, only to find more blank pages.

"That's weird." Danny whispered to himself before putting the book back and pulling out another. Flipping through it, Danny found the same thing as the last one, blank. Replacing the new book, he continued to look through the books, finding each one blank.

"Why are there so many blank books?" Danny thought to himself as he floated down to where Ember and Cujo were waiting.

"About time, dipstick. If you're done with your reading, maybe we can move on in this little tour?" Ember said as she stood up and stretched.

"All of these books seem to be blank. Why would there be a room like this in here?"

"Jeez, use your brain a bit, nimrod." Ember replied, aiming a little glare at him for making her explain so much. "And to think Clockwork thinks you're so important." Ember rubbed her forehead for a moment and let out a sigh before speaking again. "The zone makes domains to suit the ghosts that are going to live in them, whether they realize it or not. Some ghosts like me just have rooms for resting, others, like Clockwork, have rooms that can do things to the human world. This place has to have some use for you if it's in your domain."

Danny nodded, understanding most of what she was talking about. The empty books continued to be at the front of his mind, however. Why were all of them titled with names? Why the amount?

Suddenly, Cujo popped up, his ears perked up and looking around. Cujo barked, trying to get the attention of the other two ghosts with him.

Danny looked down at the ghost puppy. "What's up boy? What's happening?" The little ghost continued to bark, as though trying to tell him something.

"Ugh, this isn't working. How did I deal with him before?" Danny stood and thought for a few seconds before remembering when he first dealt with the dog. "Oh yeah."

"Cujo," Hearing his name, Cujo looked up at the ghost boy, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. "Fetch!"

With that one word, Cujo perked up and started running through the room. Ember watched confused as the little dog bolted off passing bookcase after bookcase. "What the heck's gotten into him?"

"He noticed something." Danny replied as he started to run after Cujo. "Now hurry up and follow him or we'll lose him."

With an exasperated sigh, Ember followed after Danny and Cujo, running towards the back of the room. As they got closer to the back of the room, a door started to become more visible.

Cujo reached the door first and started scratching at it, closely followed by Danny. When Ember caught up, Danny finally opened the door, showing a new, much smaller, room.

As soon as the door opened, Cujo bolted into the room, running straight through towards the back of the room. Danny and Ember entered slowly, looking around the room. Inside the room looked to be an armory of weapons. From swords to axes to clubs to guns, it was filled with all different weapons from different times.

"Reminds me of when I went chasing after Plasmius to China, except, y'know, there were only swords and staffs there." Danny picked up a sword that was just like the one that he had used. Suddenly, Cujo barked loudly at the door that he had run to at the back of the room, causing Danny to drop the sword by surprise.

"Watch it, dipstick, you could hurt someone with that. If you're as dumb as you seem, though, you're probably the one you're gonna hurt."

Danny turned a glare at Ember before going to open the door Cujo was now scratching at. Again, Cujo bolted into the room while the two human ghosts looked around slowly.

There wasn't much in the room, a few chairs, a desk, but most noticeably a giant clear window hanging to the side of the room.

"Huh, why do I get the feeling that Clockwork will jump out from somewhere?" Danny said to himself while looking around.

"Quite observant, young ghost." A mysterious voice called out from behind Danny. A blue wisp of smoke rose from his mouth as he and Ember turned to look at the new ghost sitting in one of the few chairs behind him. What surprised Danny, though, was that the ghost was just like his dream from last night.

"It seems that the ghost zone considers you much like Clockwork. You can look on and interact, but with what, I don't quite know. What I do know, however, is that the ghost zone sees you as a protector of something. Quite frankly, that's not a good thing."

"Oh? Why's that, ya freak? Better yet, who are you?" Ember retorted, already annoyed with the new visitor.

"How rude of me, I haven't introduced myself." The renaissance-esque ghost stood and bowed to the two younger ghosts in front of him. "I am Toren, Cataloger for the Council of Ancients. To answer your second question," Toren rose from his bow, standing almost rigid as he stood straight. "It is not a good thing because I will have to kill you now."

* * *

**A/N:** And with that note, I leave off. Not because I don't want to continue writing this chapter, but right here just seems to be the sort of place for a good cliffhanger. That said, sorry about the long span of time between the last chapter and this one, and the fact that this chapter is so short in comparison. Hopefully, though, I won't have that much time between updates again. To make sure of that, I'm working ahead of the clock now.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** Do I even need to continue? I think we've all gotten the point by now. On with the story.

**Chapter 7: Setting Off and Intrusions.**

- (Fenton Works) -

Jazz was worriedly pacing back and forth in the living room. After last night she figured her parents would go for the night and come back, but apparently not. It wasn't unusual for Danny to be gone for a few days on ghost business, but her parents usually made it home by morning.

As Jazz turned to make another lap around the room, there was a knocking at the front door.

"As if there wasn't enough trouble to worry about." She mumbled to herself as she went to open the door. Opening it, she found Sam and Tucker standing on the other side, both looking about as worried as she was. "Hey guys, if you're looking for Danny, he's not here right now-"

"We know, Jazz." They both replied at the same time. Sam and Tucker stopped and looked at each other before rifling through their pockets. They each pulled a cog shaped medallion from their pockets. They both spoke at the same time again, "You got one too?"

Sam traded a knowing look with Tucker before looking back at Jazz. "Danny's been taken by Clockwork, and we've come to find him."

Jazz motioned the two inside before shutting the door. The three teenagers decided to move their conversation into the basement. "You and my parents both. They left last night in the specter speeder to find Danny and haven't gotten back."

"We have to go after them." Sam said; determination on her face and in her voice.

"But how? Mr. and Mrs. Fenton already took the specter speeder, and we don't have any other way to get through the ghost zone." Tucker pointed out. "Even if we had one, who knows if Danny's still with clockwork anyways?"

"Well, the second one I can't say anything about, but about having another speeder." Jazz said hesitantly before moving over to a large device covered by a tarp. Pulling the tarp away, she unveiled a large vehicle that looked like a mixture of a truck and a boat. On the side, a black and white symbol was painted that looked like a mixture of a D and a P.

Sam and Tucker stood in shock. From what they had heard from Danny, his family only made one specter speeder after the last one was destroyed. But another one was sitting right in front of them. It just didn't add up.

Getting over the initial shock, Tucker spoke first. "How-"

"I've had a lot of time on my hands over the college break since dad and mom help Danny and you guys with your ghost catching." Jazz interrupted. She blushed a bit in embarrassment before continuing on. "I found the blueprints and decided to piece together another one. Just in case an emergency came up and didn't have the other speeder."

"Good enough for me." Sam said before going to a counter to get some anti-ghost weaponry.

"I got shotgun!" Tucker yelled out, getting ready to run to the speeders front seat.

Before he was able to get to it, Sam grabbed him by the back of his shirt. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Uh, to help Danny?" Tucker replied, not quite understanding why Sam was stopping him.

Sam let go of Tucker, letting him turn around to face her. "Oh no you're not, you have to stay here."

"What? Why? Danny's my friend too!" Tucker said angrily.

"Uh, because you're the mayor." With that, Sam turned around and started packing anti-ghost tech into the new speeder.

"So?"

"Sam's right, Tucker, you have the whole town to look over." Jazz informed him. "Besides, without Danny or my parents here, the three of us are the only ones who can catch any ghosts that might appear."

Tucker's face changed from angry to disappointed. His best friend since childhood was possibly in trouble, and his responsibility was keeping him from going to help him out of it. "But I want to help Danny too."

"Face it, Tucker, you have too big a duty to be going off into the Ghost zone so suddenly." Jazz put her arm around Sam, pulling her close before continuing. "You just leave this mission to me and Sam. We'll bring Danny back."

Sam pushed Jazz away before looking at her. "Uh, no offence Jazz, but I need you to stay here too."

A surprised look crossed Jazz's face after hearing this new bit of info. "What? Why?"

"I need you to stay here and contact me in case your parents get back." Sam closed the back of the speeder, finished with packing the tech. "Anything we can get about where Danny is from them could be useful. I'll try to get back as soon as I can." With that, Sam hopped into the driver's seat and started up the speeder.

"I hope you're safe Danny."

- (Danny's domain) -

"I must say, I'm quite surprised. I honestly thought that being told you were going to be killed would result in a bit more surprise."

Danny, Ember, and a ghost recently introduced as Toren stood across from each other, a confused look on Toren's face. He had just told Danny that he was going to kill him, but got no reaction, other than Ember looking like she was about to fry him.

"Eh, you hear it once, you've heard it a million times." Danny shrugged his shoulders. "Though, usually, it's more something like 'I'M GOING TO SKIN YOU AND MOUNT YOU ON MY WALL!' or 'ONCE WE CATCH YOU, WE'LL RIP YOU APART, MOLLECULE BY MOLLECULE!'"

At this, Toren stood surprised. He soon collected himself before speaking again. "Well, I dare say this reaction messes up my speech entirely. We must move on, none-the-less. Now, I dreadfully dislike fighting, so I bring you a choice."

This time it was Danny's turn to be confused. "You're giving me a choice in how I die? That's something I didn't think I'd hear from a ghost."

Despite Danny's words, Toren continued. "I know a bit about you. Daniel Fenton, age 18, resides with his mother and father, sister is off at college. 4 years ago had an accident in your family's lab that infused you with ghost powers. 2 years later another accident happened that took away your powers, later reversed by most of the ghosts in the Ghost Zone hitting you all at once with their combined power."

Danny was surprised to hear how much this ghost knew about him. So far, the only full ghost to know this much about him was Clockwork, and he was the master of all time. "How do you know about me?"

"Oh, I know most things about everything in the ghost zone. I'm not the cataloger for the council for nothing. Anyways, you have two decisions before you. Decision number one, go back home, experience that accident again, and never try to regain your powers again. With that, Danny Phantom will be gone and done for with no need for worry. Decision number two, we fight and I kill you. So, what shall it be?"

Danny looked at Toren for a second before looking down in thought. It was close to the same decision that Clockwork was having him choose, except for the fighting and killing part.

"You can send your decisions straight back where they came from, you old fogey."

Danny and Toren looked up and over at Ember, who had loudly voiced her thoughts on the matter. Even Cujo, who until the moment was running around like he had his tail on fire, stopped and looked at her. "I don't care who you are or what council you're from. I'm this guy's guide and you'll have to go through me to get to him." At the end of her sentence, Cujo ran up next to her and barked loudly, as though agreeing to what she was saying.

Toren smiled at this before holding up a hand aimed at Ember. "I don't believe I was asking you." Finishing his sentence, his hand pulsed with green energy before firing at her.

Before Ember had time to move, the green ecto-blast flew towards her. Running on instinct, Danny jumped in front of Ember and raised a barrier against the blast. On impact, the ecto-blast exploded, breaking the barrier and pushing Danny, Ember, and Cujo back. Before the dust could settle, Toren walked forward, another ecto-blast pulsing in his hand.

Danny prepared to make another barrier to try and block the blast again, but as soon as he moved, Toren was in front of him, the pulsing blast against his stomach, ready to be shot. Before Toren could fire the blast, however, he was hit by a blast from the side. Danny looked to the source of the blast to see Ember.

"I just told you, you'll have to go through me to get to him. I don't like to be ignored." Ember said.

Danny looked from Ember to where Toren was, or was supposed to be. All that was left where Ember blasted him to was air. Danny looked around, trying to find where Toren went. Despite the dust from the first blast having settled, Danny couldn't find Toren.

Suddenly, Toren's voice echoed from all over the room. "I shall return for your answer soon, young man. Until then, try to stay alive. I'm not the only one after you, you know." His message finished, no more was heard from Toren.

**A/N:** And thus comes a close to another chapter. A look on the other side before the choice is given again. **Edit:** Ok, final form. A bit more of an action ending than before. Next chapter, we learn more about Danny's latest enemy, and about the mysterious rooms in Danny's domain.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **Sorry for the wait everybody, but here's a Christmas gift for you.

**Chapter 8: Recuperation and Discovery**

"Jeeze, what was his problem?" Ember asked into the air while she crouched to sit on the floor.

"'Dunno, but maybe you shouldn't have been trying to pick a fight with him. The way it was going, it looked like he just wanted to talk." Danny replied while brushing the dust off his clothes. "How is it so dusty in here anyways? Didn't this room appear just today?"

"Yeah, and his talk was ticking me off. I don't know who he thinks he is, but forcing someone to make a choice like that right away is just messed up."

"I'm going to have to choose one of those eventually though." Danny pointed out. "That is the reason Clockwork brought me here in the first place."

"Clockwork is at least giving you time to think about it, though. He isn't forcing you to choose with an explosive in your face."

"I know." Danny thought about the blast that he blocked from Toren. Even with his shield, his hands became sore from stopping it. "That guy was powerful, though."

"More than you could imagine." Ember huffed out. Danny looked at her confusedly. Seeing the look in his eyes, she decided to explain. "After that first shot, he hid in the dust and made a copy of himself. You need a lot of strength to be able to do that, not to mention he was only starting to fight. Only an idiot goes full strength at the start."

"Wait, you need to be a strong ghost to make more bodies?"

At the surprise on his face, it was Embers turn to be confused. "Kind of. Not a lot of ghosts can do it, and the only ones I've seen have been pretty strong."

Danny was shocked to hear this. Danny didn't think much of the ability before because Vlad and he could do it so easily after a bit of practice, and his ghostly wail could usually beat Vlad easily. He never thought about how the ghosts he usually faced didn't use it.

_I'm a strong ghost._

Letting this thought sink in, a smile grew on his face. He knew he was good at kicking ghost butt, but usually he had a bit of help from his parents' inventions. It was a different pride than knowing that he was strong by ghost standards.

"Stop smiling like that, Dipstick. It's creeping me out." These words, and a smack across the back of his head, snapped Danny out of his thoughts. Looking around, he saw Ember walking toward the giant window hanging to the side.

"So, what does this thing do, anyway?" Ember asked, looking through the crystal clear glass. The window was a perfectly circular pane of glass, surrounded by grey stone, holding it in place. It was a mystery as to how the window was hanging, seeing as how the stone wasn't embedded into the wall, and there looked to be nothing holding it up in the air.

"Well, if what that ghost earlier says is true, I should be able to see something through it." Danny said, catching up to Ember. Looking at the window, though, he felt confused. "But how do I start it?"

"Well, don't ask me. I don't know and I don't wanna know how anybody else's door works. Most ghosts have enough troubles with their own."

Flying up to the glass, Danny looked around it for anything that looked like it would start it. "There has to be some kind of switch or something to make it work somewhere." Not finding anything on the frame, he started to search the entire room.

Suddenly Cujo's bark echoed through the room. Looking around, Danny saw him at the entrance to the weapons room that they came through to get to this room. Clutched in Cujo's mouth was one of the books from the first room.

Excited by the attention, Cujo ran towards the ghost boy, picking up speed by the second. Soon after he started running, however, the ghost-dog tripped over the book it held in its mouth. The small puppy flipped over and sprawled on the ground, the book that was in its mouth flipping open and sliding across the floor.

Danny walked over to check on Cujo. The dog's clumsiness was just too adorable at times. After picking up the pup and making sure he was alright, Danny walked over to pick up the book. Just as he reached for it, though, he heard someone whispering.

Straightening up, he looked around for what could have been talking. "Do you hear something, Ember?"

"Only your dorky voice."

Bending down, Danny grabbed for the book again. "I'm serious, I think I heard something." As soon as the book was in his hand, Danny started to hear someone talking.

"_I really wish you would spend less time looking into the stars and more looking into finding a wife._"

Danny instantly let go of the book and jumped up, searching for whoever was talking. "Okay, now **that** was weird, and I fight ghosts for a living."

"What is it now?" Ember asked coarsely.

"I think that, when I touch this book, I start to hear voices." Danny said, a bit confused. _But I looked through a few of those books and nothing happened before. What's different now?_

Shaking her head, Ember walked over to where Danny was standing next to the book. "Jeez, don't go psycho on me now, dweeb. It's just a book." Ember crouched down and grabbed the book in her hands. As soon as she did, though, the voices started again.

"_And your mother isn't getting any younger, she'll be wanting to see you have sons soon enough. She tells me enough about it as it is._"

Ember let go of the book almost immediately. As soon as it was out of her hands, the voices stopped. "Okay, maybe I was wrong about ya, ghost-boy. There's something weird about this book."

"You heard it too?" Ember nodded at his question. Looking at the book Danny thought for a minute. _I know the books were just normal blank books before. What could have changed things?_ Deep in thought, Danny looked around the room before a light-bulb went off in his head. "I got it."

"What?"

Danny pointed over to the window, "Bring the book over there and you'll see."

Her curiosity peaked; Ember shrugged her shoulders and grabbed the book. "This had better be worth it." Walking over to the window, the voices chattered on for her to hear. By the sounds of it, the voices belonged to a man and a woman who seemed pretty close.

As soon as Ember stood in front of the window, Danny spoke up again. "Now, if I'm right, it should become clear when you look into the glass." Once he said it, Danny grabbed onto the book and looked into the glass himself.

An image played on the glass, showing old stone buildings in the background. What drew attention, though, was a couple that was arguing in front of one of the buildings. The first of the couple was a young woman, her long dirty-blonde hair pulled back into a bun and wearing a simple dress that showed her lean frame. The second was a spindly young man. He looked more refined than the young woman, looking cleaner and his clothes being more formal than her dress.

What surprised Danny and Ember, however, was the face of the man they were seeing. Even without a second look, it looked like the ghost they had just met a matter of minutes before. Danny doubted it could be him for a minute before the man spoke up.

"_Elizabeth, I know how you feel, however I will not give up the dream that I have just achieved._"

As soon as Danny heard that voice, he let go of the book and look at the window, the man's face still displayed on it. The voice and the face were exactly the same. Danny could only think of one thing with this new information going through his head.

"I can see people before they become ghosts."

* * *

**A/N: **And I'll stop there for the night. Sorry about how late this chapter is, my creative process has been reconstructing itself since my brother blew into town in about May. But thankfully, in part due to the church's Christmas service (I'm agnostic, not Christian. I just go because the rest of my family is Christian, and it gives me a boost in creativity.), I'm back on the writing scene. Look forward to more, until I probably fall out of creativity again. But hey, just gotta wait for Christmas again when that happens.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: We've gotten the picture, this is the last disclaimer I'm putting in this story. Only a few of the characters in this story belong to me.

**Chapter 9: More Surprises**

"What are you talking about, dipstick?" Ember asked, putting the book down.

Pointing at the window, Danny began to explain, "The man on the glass, he was the ghost we just fought. Holding that book allows us to see when he was alive on that window. That's the reason for all the books in that first room. They're all different people that I can look at."

"That explains the books, but why would that ghost want to kill you for this?"

"He wouldn't." Danny said as he started thinking. As quick as he thought them, he started speaking his ideas. "He said it himself; he didn't know what this room could see. He's trying to kill me for a completely different reason."

"Yeah, and what would that be?" Ember asked, folding her arms across each other. "It's not like you've done anything to make that guy hate you. So, unless something big is happening, he doesn't really have any reason to attack you."

"I think something big **IS** happening." Danny replied gravely. "And it looks like I'm involved."

"Geez, and I thought Skulker thought highly of himself. You've been in the zone for two days, there's no way you could be involved even if something was happening." Ember spouted out while turning to look at Danny. Even if she was going to say more, the seriousness displayed on his face made her stop.

"I'm serious here, something big is happening. And I think I know what it is." Danny said gravely.

"How would you know?" Ember replied, having a hard time believing him. "It's not like you had time to go out and find out. As I said before, you've only been in the ghost zone for two days, and you've been with me and the mutt the entire time."

"It may sound crazy, but I had a strange dream last night, and that ghost and others were in it. They were talking, saying something about a new ghost king-" Danny explained before Ember interrupted him.

"You're right, it does sound crazy." She snapped. "You expect me to believe a dream you had? Much less something about a new ghost king? You'd have to be out of your mind to believe things like that."

Danny stopped and thought for a second. Was she right? Was what he saw just a crazy dream? After a moment, he spoke again. "Believe me or not, it's not important right now. What's important is that he's after me, and he seems to know a lot about me, even my family. I just hope that they're alright."

- (Elsewhere in the Ghost zone) -

"Maddie, if we don't stop soon, something big is going to happen." Jack Fenton said to his wife as they sped through the vortex that was the ghost zone.

"Well, I told you to use the bathroom before we left, Jack." The two ghost hunters had sped into the ghost zone immediately after hearing that their son was abducted by a ghost. Their problem at the moment, however, was that they didn't know which ghost it was, resulting in the two of them driving through the ghost zone with no idea where they were going. "Stop at that castle over there, they might have a bathroom."

As fast as he could, Jack landed the Specter Speeder on a walkway outside of an old castle. As fast as he could, he jumped out of the speeder and ran into the castle, hurrying to find a bathroom.

Much more calm than her husband, Maddie slowly got out of the speeder and looked at where they landed. Sitting in front of her was a large castle, Medieval Europe was her best guess. Carefully, she walked inside, holding her ecto-rifle at the ready, in case any ghosts attacked her.

Inside was a long hallway with three wooden doors. Two were on the side walls, with one door at the very end of the hall. Walking through the hall, she noticed some simple signs were etched on the doors. The first door she passed was decorated with a toilet, making it obvious that her husband was inside that room. Going further in, she saw the next door had a bed engraved on it.

Maddie slowly opened the door, making sure that it wasn't trapped. Nodding to herself, she pushed it open and hid to the side. Seeing that nothing was happening, she looked inside.

The design of the room was simple, a single vanity mirror, a bed, and a wardrobe. It appeared that whoever owned the castle liked to keep things simple. Satisfied that there were no traps, Maddie closed the door and continued deeper into the castle. Reaching the door at the end of the hall, she looked over its wooden frame carefully.

Etched into the wood, the shape of a telescope was a lot more detailed than on the other doors. Seeing no handle, Maddie slowly pushed on the door, again making sure it wasn't trapped. Opening it fully, she was amazed at the sight. Sitting in the center of the room was a giant telescope, staring off into a hole in the roof. Stacks of books littered the floor; some probably taller than her husband.

Stepping up to one of the stacks, she took a book and looked at it. It was leather bound, and didn't appear to have a title. Maddie opened the book and started to read the contents. "June 26th: The Box Ghost annoyed other ghosts; Skulker visited Technus to talk about an upgrade to his suit, otherwise all quiet." She spoke as she read. She quickly flipped through the book, most of the entries being as short as the first she read. "It's almost like someone's been watching everyone in the ghost zone from here."

After she put the first book down, Maddie heard footsteps approaching the door. She quickly turned around and prepared to shoot as soon as someone walked through the door. She held back when she saw who it was when the door busted open. "C'mon, Maddie, time to go." Jack blurted out from the doorway.

"Jeez, Jack, you scared me a bit. I thought you might be the ghost who owns this castle." Maddie let out a sigh. Sometimes her husband was a bit much for her nerves. She relaxed her hold on the ecto-rifle when a voice spoke up behind her.

"No, I have been here the entire time."

Maddie jumped away from the voice and held up her weapon, ready to fire. All she could see, though, was the stacks of books that filled the room. "Show yourself ghost!" She exclaimed, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

"Is that any way to talk to someone who let you into their home?" Toren sighed as he made himself visible. "My name is Toren, and welcome to my observatory."

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**A/N:** Thus, Danny reveals his dream. For those of you waiting, I still have a once a month update scheme. It's mostly due to constant major revisions I'm making to other stories that I'm writing, but it'll most likely reach this story too. Once it happens, make sure to check everything out, cause a lot of pieces will most likely change, hopefully for the better.


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